Novant Health giving away thousands of masks in poor and minority communities
Novant Health has been giving away thousands of masks in the Charlotte area this week to residents in poor and minority communities who traditionally may have had difficulty accessing health care.
Teams distributed masks Tuesday at Heal Charlotte/Orchard Trace, the Camino Community Center and Project 658 — over 500 masks at Project 658 alone in east Charlotte, according to Liesl West, senior neighborhood engagement partner at Novant Health Huntersville Medical Center.
On Wednesday, a Novant team distributed masks at the Ada Jenkins Center in Davidson.
During the novel coronavirus crisis, people are wearing masks in public to help slow the spread of COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus.
Novant Health is working with community partners and faith-based organizations to identify areas in most need, West said. At the Ada Jenkins Center, the hospital worked with the North Mecklenburg Economic Mobility Collaborative.
Novant Health plans to distribute more than 150,000 masks to people in need, according to Dr. Jerome Williams, Novant’s senior vice-president of consumer engagement. Some 11,000 masks already have been distributed across the state.
“To achieve universal masking, or masking an entire community, we have to make sure those in high risk, high need groups get not only the message, but a mask,” Williams said in a statement.
Helping protect others
Novant is aware that a significant number of people who have the coronavirus aren’t showing any signs of being sick when they test positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus.
“By wearing a non-medical cloth face covering when you’re in public and maintaining physical distancing of 6 feet, you’re helping protect others in case you have the virus, but don’t even know it,” Williams said..
Novant Health is partnering with dozens of schools, churches and community organizations that provide food, shelter and other services to people in need, according to Williams. Masks also are being distributed at Novant Health screening sites and respiratory assessment centers
“Our priority is to provide masks to the most vulnerable members of our community first: those without the resources or ability to acquire or make a mask who are in high need, high risk groups,” he said. “We’re also committed to making sure vulnerable members in our black and brown communities — which we know are already being hit harder by this pandemic — don’t see gaps get even wider.”
In the Charlotte area, Novant also is distributing masks at Solomon House, Rowan Helping Ministries, Grier Heights Community Center and Movement School.
Novant Health also is giving away masks in the Winston-Salem area and at the coast in Brunswick County.
This story was originally published May 13, 2020 at 10:41 AM.